This makes Factorio more fun by turning pollution and combat into an interconnected system you actively engage with, instead of just tossing down laser turrets and forgetting about both. This minimalist mod stays close to the vanilla experience, adding only what's necessary to accomplish these goals.
The native life is capable of absorbing pollution. Destroying alien nests provides the red xenomass necessary to build pollution collectors. This gives a reason to go out and fight the aliens, something missing from the game after Alien Science was removed. In addition, turning pollution into electricity or oil products requires blue xenomass, acquired by killing alien creatures. Passive defenses are still an option, but with this mod, you're rewarded for investing in more complex systems.
Features
- You can collect, transport, and dump pollution into the environment, creating poisonous clouds to slow and damage attackers. Alternatively, you can spew it at attackers from Toxic Turrets.
- To get rid of pollution entirely, you can invest in Waste Treatment and Coal Liquefaction to turn pollution into oil products.
- Pollution processing unlocks around the same time as oil, giving you something tangible to work on while waiting for the many oil-based techs to research. Many of my friends who start Factorio for the first time get bored around that stage in the vanilla game. This solves that problem!
- The Toxic Incinerator is an early, simple reactor between fossil fuels and nuclear power. It allows new players to figure out how reactors work, without needing to deal with the complexity and extreme power output of nuclear reactors.